Plastic straws are commonly used and preferred when people are drinking beverages out of paper cups. The rationale behind drinking through straws relies on atmospheric pressure. When sucking out part of the air in a straw the air pressure above the liquid in the straw is reduced, whereupon atmospheric pressure forces the liquid through the straw in order to balance the air pressure. When the suction stops, the liquid in the straw goes back to the original water level, the air pressure is thus restored to balance. This is how a straw works.
However straws have made quite an environmental impact recently, proposal to ban on plastic straws becomes heated as it is significant to boycotting single-use plastic products. Plastic straw accounts for the sixth commonly seen waste in the world and one of the ten oceanic pollutions. Campaigns are launched for encouraging people to use less plastic straws. It is estimated that the earth is expected to have 12 billion tons of plastic waste by the year of 2050, almost 9 million tons of which will be emitted into the ocean. These plastic wastes include plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic wraps as well as plastic straws. Plastic straws account only for 4% of plastic waste in the world, but they contribute to 2 thousand tons of pollutions. In addition, plastic straws are regarded as the ultimate waste produced by human beings as they are barely recyclable and of low recycling value. Therefore plastic straws are still lethal to the oceans regardless of its low proportion among overall plastic productions and its small size. With the promotion of the environmental protection concept, everyone's mind has more or less the protection awareness of the green earth and the blue ocean. And such a beautiful and far-reaching idea may start with an attitude towards a straw.